I love Santa Claus and the Millennium Falcon

Every Christmas season my wife asks me the same question. It goes something like this: “Did you think Santa hated you when you were a kid?”

This is a legitimate question, as posed by my non-Jewish wife. After all, being Jewish on Christmas must be a fate worse than drinking rotten gefilte fish juice, right?

Wrong. Fact is, Jews love Christmas. At least this Jew does.

So no. I didn’t think Santa hated me. I’d go to the mall just like every other kid, sit on Santa’s lap, tell him what I wanted for Hanukkah. Yep, I’d break it down for ol’ Kris Kringle, let him know he had to pass the request for the Millenium Falcon down to my mom and dad. (Sidenote: My parents never did get me that Millennium Falcon. As a kid, I figured Santa didn’t tell my parents, but as an adult, I now know my mom and dad simply didn’t plunk down the dough for Han Solo’s ride. The thing could make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, but still, they didn’t buy it for me. I’m not carrying the anger around with me or anything, but really, I mean, my pop was buying himself a new Cadillac every other year. Would it have killed him to buy me the Millennium Falcon for Hanukkah? Ed Wong had one across the street, but he was persnickety about it. Wouldn’t let me play with it. Only Ed Wong could play with it. Whatever. Not Santa’s fault is the point here.)

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So yeah: I loved Santa. I knew the score on the jolly guy as far back as I can remember, but I still liked him, and never mentioned the *truth* to my Christian friends.

Speaking of which, I used to love calling my friends on Christmas morning to find out what Santa brought them. My best buddy Anthony always got the cool stuff, and I’d get to his house by Christmas afternoon to play his newest Atari 2600 games. (I had Odyssey by Magnavox. My parents might have hated me, I’m realizing now.) Anyway, Christmas for me, as a little kid, was a great day. No school, go to my friend’s house, play Atari.

As I got older, it became more of a party day. I’m pretty sure fake IDs were used the day before to secure Budweiser beer balls. A bunch of the guys would get together at someone’s house, play poker, eat Chinese food, maybe catch a movie at night. Couldn’t beat it. The expectations were simple, and they were always met.

Today, as an adult Jewish male, I still I love Christmas. I love the holly jolly part, the ring-ting-tingling part, the Christmas song part.

And I’m not the only Jewish guy who digs the Christmas tuneage. In fact, a double CD was just released called “‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah” by the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation — “a small but dedicated team from the music industry and academia who passionately believe Jewish history is best told by the music we have loved and lost” — that consists of one CD of Hanukkah songs, and a second CD of Christmas songs as recorded by Jews. From “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)” by The Ramones to “Jingle Bells” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, it’s safe to say it’s all there.

But when it all comes down to it, my all-time favorite part of Christmas is probably everyone else’s. Seeing little kids engage with Santa Claus. There’s nothing like the look on a kid’s face when they see Santa for the first time each year.

And so for this Jewish guy, I make sure Santa is part of my kid’s life. Of course, our children are being raised with both Jewish and Christian traditions — plus we have about a dozen Buddhas scattered across the house — and so the idea of keeping Santa from them was never explored. We’re a Santa family, through and through.

So yeah. It’s full disclosure time, folks: I’m Jewish, I love Christmas, and I still kind of hate Ed Wong for not letting me play with his Millennium Falcon. Not even kidding: I never once so much as even touched Ed Wong’s, or any, Millennium Falcon. This is a grand, grand disappointment in my life. But I’m fine with it. Really. I am.